Texas Tractor-Trailer Accident Kills Truck Driver

Posted By Stephen Stewart || 5-Aug-2014

A 51-year-old man was killed in an Austin collision involving two tractor-trailers
on July 30. The man, who was driving one of the trucks involved in the
tractor-trailer accident, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash after his vehicle's
cab was crushed.

The deceased man was driving a blue 2006 Volvo truck hauling two enclosed
trailers in the 12100 block of southbound Interstate 35 near Parmer Lane.
At about 3:20 a.m., his truck reportedly rear-ended the trailer of a black
2004 Freightliner semi-truck that had pulled off onto the shoulder. The
Freightliner re-entered the highway and pulled into the path of the Volvo.

Interstate 35 was closed for about seven hours while police processed the
scene and clean-up crews cleared debris from the roadway. Detectives spoke
with the driver of the Freightliner at the scene. The Austin Police Department's
Vehicular Homicide Unit continued to investigate the crash at the time
of reports.

The accident was the 29th recorded
fatal traffic accident of 2014 in Austin. A 2010 study by the Center for National Truck Statistics
found that Texas ranked first in the number of fatal truck accidents with
411. California, the state that ranked second in the study, had 239 fatal
truck accidents that year.

Truck drivers often provide a significant portion of their households'
income, and the emotional pain of losing a loved one is often worsened
by the financial insecurity that results when half of a family's income
is lost. Austin personal injury attorneys may provide guidance to victims'
families after fatal truck accidents including advice about seeking compensation
from negligent truck drivers or the owners of the trucks involved in their
loved ones' deaths.